By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — A jiu jitsu gym focused on training for high-level competition will celebrate its grand opening this weekend.
Black Flag Jiu Jitsu, 21 Airport Drive, is designed for both athletes just beginning their martial arts training and gritty competitors who want to challenge themselves at the highest level. It’s three-day grand opening celebration includes a series of seminars with the Pedigo Submission Fighting Academy and the Daisy Fresh American jiu jitsu crew, as well as tournaments at various skill levels.
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The training facility is owned by Rockford natives Kenny Martin, who is a Relson Gracie black belt, and his student Aaron Lynde.
“We have the self-defense side that I teach, very traditional Gracie jiu jitsu,” Martin said. “Then we have the comp team that is the most cutting-edge, up-to-date competition tactics and techniques that are winning at the very highest level.”
Black Flag began as an idea more than two years, and Martin and Lynde purchased former office space for their future gym nearly a year ago. Now they’re ready to show off the renovated space — which has both mats for jiu jitsu and a weight room for strength training — at their grand opening. They also want to introduce the public to what they feel is a different way of teaching martial arts. They’ve been training in the space since April.
“To us it’s all about building the right environment: an environment where people can thrive, and we don’t hold them back,” Lynde said. “We do things different: We don’t waste time with warm-ups that are useless, we get right into work, we work hard, there’s a lot of high-effort, high-energy.”
Doing so has helped the gym win multiple International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation opens and it helps athletes quickly build their skills, Martin and Lynde said.
“We have white belts that are tough rounds,” said Lynde, a 2007 Boylan Catholic High School graduate. “That doesn’t happen everywhere.”
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Martin, a 2002 Jefferson High School graduate, said he’s been involved in combat sports since 2007. Black Flag is the aggregation of everything he wanted at a gym while paring away some old methods of teaching he felt hinders progress.
“We’re trying to do something different and give people an opportunity to express themselves freely,” Martin said. “I want every generation of people that flows from what I created to be better than the last. We’re constantly evolving to keep turning out better and better athletes.”
Know before you go | Black Flag grand opening
About: Black Flag will celebrate its grand opening by hosting Heath Pedigo, a jiu jitsu black belt and the founder of the Pedigo Submission Fighting Academy, and the Daisy Fresh American jiu jitsu crew for a series of seminars. There will also be a series of tournaments for various skill levels.
When: Friday, Jan. 5 through Sunday, Jan. 7
Where: 21 Airport Drive, Rockford
How much: $150
Contact: blackflagjiujitsu@gmail.com; 815-905-5557
On social: @blackflaggjj on Instagram; Black Flag Jiu Jitsu on Facebook
On the web: blackflagjiujitsu.com
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas